Engineers are reportedly racing against the clock to release iOS 7 by September.

Famed Apple product designer Jony Ive has his hands deep into iOS 7 following the departure of former iOS software head Scott Forstall, leading to potential delays as he revamps the look and feel of the software. That's according to a new report at Bloomberg, which cites sources claiming that Ive is working to rid iOS of the skeuomorphism that came from Forstall's influence in order to impose a "flatter design that’s more unified and less cluttered."

As a result of this makeover, however, Apple's iOS teams are reportedly running a bit behind schedule. Engineers are "racing" to get iOS 7 to at least a demo stage before the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference and, according to Bloomberg's sources, "internal deadlines for submitting features for testing are being set later than past releases."

That said, Apple is still expected to release iOS 7 on (its own, unannounced) schedule, which is said to be around September—around the same time the next-generation iPhone is expected to land. But it seems that the majority of the changes will be in the form of design and UI updates, with less of a focus on major feature changes. "Bigger shifts, to such features as e-mail, may not even be ready this year and may be introduced in future releases," wrote Bloomberg.

The report corroborates previous rumors that Apple has been pulling engineers off OS X 10.9 in order to move faster on iOS 7—something that Apple has done previously in order to ensure iOS receives the requisite work on time. What that means for the timing of 10.9 remains unclear; Apple has released major OS X updates in July in recent years, but the rush on iOS 7 may end up pushing 10.9—said to focus on the "power user"—until later in the year.

Update: AllThingsD also has sources speaking on the same topic, who claim iOS 7 is destined for a "de-Forstallization."

What will I do now that digital versions of tools no longer represent their physical counterparts. How will I ever figure it out.

/sarcasm

I am pretty excited about a big revamp to iOS. I don't have any major issues with it. I like it just fine. It does its job. Its smooth. Yet this past year I can't shake the feeling that it could be better.

I think the skeuomorphism helped with adoption, but it was taken to painful levels. At time point, the computer is more dynamic and isn't limited by the physical characteristics of paper. It should hint at the parallels, but allow itself to explore that hardware accelerated GUI and multicore CPU.

Because it isn't "pointless scurrying about" or "moving in trends." Assuming that Bloomberg is correct, this is fixing something that many of us have hated for a long time. This is, if anything, making the software feel more like the hardware in a unifying way, not following a mere fad.

1. Integrate the look and feel of the software with the hardware to allow external physical cues to assist with software usability (I've no idea how exactly this might pan out in reality but I reckon Mr. Ive would!)2. Do it to Mac OS X too!3. Apply a consistent approach to the Trash within and external to apps on Mac OS X.4. Allow iOS apps to talk to each other with fine grained user control, e.g. users to be able to permit Google Maps to access their phone contacts list if they want.5. Use those Palm patents to fix synchronisation especially with calendars. In fact just fix the Calendar app on Mac OS X.

I think the skeuomorphism helped with adoption, but it was taken to painful levels. At time point, the computer is more dynamic and isn't limited by the physical characteristics of paper. It should hint at the parallels, but allow itself to explore that hardware accelerated GUI and multicore CPU.

I think what we need is balance.

Too much skeuomorphism, and things become ridiculous like the Contacts app on OS X.

On the other extreme, we have Windows 8, which is absolutely flat, without any hints on what you can actually interact with. You can only guess what is a label and what is a clickable button (cf. "Change PC Settings").

I wonder if the developer guidelines will change. There was something like "delight" your users. To me it always seemed to be encouraging skeumorphism. I don't like skeumorphism personally, but I do feel like it was 'calming' to the very non-techy.

I don't know. I don't know if the majority of iOS users really dislike the current design. I see them using their iphone cases of choice. Those cases are usually not typical Johnny Ive design. I see people buying plastic Galaxies and cheap plastic laptops. And they are ok with it. I don't really see people wanting thoroughly modern designed stuff. Not in devices, not in clothing.

I'm a bit hesitant about the descriptions of the changes coming. I already liked the visual look & feel of iOS (it could use some tweaking, but major overhauls don't feel necessary to me).

But, until some screenshots leak out, there's not really anything we can actually do besides make assumptions about what things mean, as well as assumptions about the final results. And even screenshots aren't the same as actually getting your hands on it and using it...

I'm looking forward to iOS 7 / OS X 10.9, but at this moment they're both largely just giant question marks to me.

I think the skeuomorphism helped with adoption, but it was taken to painful levels. At time point, the computer is more dynamic and isn't limited by the physical characteristics of paper. It should hint at the parallels, but allow itself to explore that hardware accelerated GUI and multicore CPU.

Swiping to the left and right can act like turning a page and feel very natural, but the annoying slowness which this behaves in calendar is the type of skeumorphic design I'm hoping to be rid of, along with the "rich corinthian leather" highlights.

In Safari on a Mac when I swipe left or right on my magic mouse, I go back or forward thru web pages. That is a motion that makes sense to me and many others. Windows Phone gestures, while interesting, are not very "obvious" in certain scenarios. They appear to be gambling on being different from Apple, though Apple is getting there first on the best way to use gestures so what's left in trying to be different are risky things that don't make sense to most people.

Too much skeuomorphism, and things become ridiculous like the Contacts app on OS X.

On the other extreme, we have Windows 8, which is absolutely flat, without any hints on what you can actually interact with. You can only guess what is a label and what is a clickable button (cf. "Change PC Settings").

I agree. This anti-skeuomorphism crusade is getting out of hand. Stitched leather and yellow notepads are ugly, but the tape deck animation in Podcasts was cute and didn't interfere with the app's operation, and I actually like the use of the linen texture. Much cozier than a flat black or grey background.

Skeuomorphism is like any tool: It has its proper place and time. If used properly, it can make software more beautiful and usable. If used improperly, yeah, Contacts and Notes.

I think some degree of skeumorphism is a good thing. A word processor displaying as a sheet of typing paper, for example. But I agree that things like cracked leather texture are not necessary.

I have pretty much the same sentiment. Find My Friends is simply an atrocity. Faux leather in the iPad calender adds no functionality but I think the rally against it was overblown. I kind of liked the look of the torn bit of paper in the notes app and I was more displeased with the limited font options. and I like the linen texture and the textures used in the Apple Maps app. Skeumorphism can give each app a personality, of sorts, when done with restraint. What I think would have worked would've been having an option to switch off the skeumorphic touches in favor of a simpler design.

I personally think Apple will go for a flatter design but not completely flat like MS and Google. I think there will still be subtle gradients and shadowing that are the hallmark of Apple's design philosophy. I would not be surprised at all if there were some faint animation cues that play off of device orientation, ambient lighting, etc.

One thing that I'm curious to know is how much a flat design affects battery life. Does it make a significant difference? If the GPU is not concerned with redrawing raster images over and over again, I imagine that could theoretically add up to some significant energy savings.

I agree that no campaign against skeumorphism sufficiently justifies delaying release. UI is important, but if stamping-out all traces of Forstall is dragging resources away from feature development or performance and stability improvements, the cure will have been worse than the disease.

And it IS frustrating when UI suffers the whims of fashion. These very fora are thick with threads ranting about it, even over small changes like shades of gray, and whether icons have colors.

There are some important things we all want out of iOS. I'm not sure we're well served by pushing those things back so that we can drive stitched leather out of town with torches and pitchforks.

Seems risky to focus just on design and making the OS release tight. I wonder if this might be equivalent to how people discussed the kernel change with WP7 to WP8. Potentially important in the future, but not really useful to customers now. After all, every single third-party app in existence is going to have to change their iconography to really make this a consistent look and feel.

Well the article does say they pulled developers from OSX. So there is some chance that one of the guys workign on multi-monitor support is now removing leather and wood grain from iOS apps. ...maybe

/sarcasm

Why sarcasm? Multiple-display support is a bad example, but considering Apple's engineering resources, it's quite possible that anti-skeumorphism is causing a ripple effect that is slowing down other things, or at least drawing attention away from doing new things so that old things can be done a second or third time.

We were all just talking about how Apple doesn't have an infinite supply of engineering talent. Between re-engineering UI and hosting WWDC, when shall we allow Apple's engineers to develop their products?

Because it isn't "pointless scurrying about" or "moving in trends." Assuming that Bloomberg is correct, this is fixing something that many of us have hated for a long time. This is, if anything, making the software feel more like the hardware in a unifying way, not following a mere fad.

well, fine, but i'm just saying you fix the water heater before slapping on a new coat of paint.

I don't even understand how your point is relevant. Both OS X and iOS have multimonitor support, albeit within the constraints of the OS. iOS can drive external monitors via HDMI or AirPlay and have both spanning and mirroring (dependent on the App) while OS X has had spanning/mirroring for years. What is there to fix/change?

More on topic, I don't understand how a thematic change can pull engineers from OS X to iOS unless this is an underlying refactoring change upon which the themes themselves rest. Even then writing a 'themes engine' does not sound like something that would require a delay of either OS unless there were more extensive changes like perhaps a UX engine upon which the themes themselves rest.

In other words, a retooling of the underpinnings where we have extensive refactoring of the underlying frameworks (UIKit/TouchKit) shared by both iOS and OS X as well as all the apps that sit on top of it. Making things flatter is only 'one' side effect of the process and not in of itself the cause for delay, merely the excuse to do this work. In other words this work could be done even if no skins/themes changed at all.